Bells
by Terrain
Summary: A low class citizen, a mistake, and a mysterious knight. What will happen to Vallena? Only God knows. R&R!
1. Chapter 1

She was always there.

I don't know her name, but she has long blonde hair, and is always staring off into the dark sky, sitting on the ledge surrounding the giant church bell. For six years now, that monk, now a champion, has every night been there. Everybody knew her by one name, Asura.

Her real name had been lost for a long time now, and I doubt even she remembered it. I don't know what happened, but I think she lost someone important. I don't know why, but I suppose the bells are important to her.

I am merely an acolyte here, and I am horrible at priestly duties. The only thing I am good for, however, is protecting acolytes physically. My name is Anne Eleheart, and I am born as a low class citizen.

I think she's beautiful, just like the moon that is always silhouetted behind her. I hope, one day, she can be at peace. Now, however, I think she's lost.

"Who are you?" Her voice was like silk, and ever so gracefully, her emerald gaze turned to meet mine, entrapping me in icy green beauty.

"A-Anne, miss." I said, stumbling over the words, nearly falling over from surprise.

"Anne…that's a nice name." She said to me, smiling ever so slightly. "Tell me, how old are you?"

"F-fifteen, ma'am." I bowed to her. After all, she was a legend, her Guillotine fist was so powerful. She had taken out an entire army of guilds in War of the Emperium.

"About my age when my life changed." She said, smiling at me. "Tell me, are you a great aspiring priest?" She asked, jumping down and landing soundlessly beside me.

"N-no ma'am." I said, looking away in shame. However, she grasped my chin ever so lightly, and gently turned my head toward her.

"Neither was I." She told me, smiling at me and putting something in my hand, gently folding my fingers around it.

Then, she was slowly lifted off the ground. At first I thought she was being attacked, but then I saw…

She had brilliant white angel wings, with a golden halo on her head. Within a few awe-filled seconds, she completely disappeared in the dark sky, joining one of the billions of stars that make up Heaven.

I looked into my hand, and saw that it was a letter. Amazingly, my name was written in beautiful lettering on it, with a seal of honor only given out by the highest orders. It read:

_Dear Anne Eleheart,_

_If this letter reaches you, I will have finally been met at peace with my fiancé. My life was totally changed by her.-_

Stunned, I re-read the line several times, 'her..?' I thought, before continuing.

_I am now a legend in the public's eyes. I was born low class, with bad parents and no priestly skills, just like you. I would like to tell you, there is no stop for you. You will continue on in life, and will live forever in the hearts of those you touched, just like me, but I do hope you do not use the same methods as I do. Take a few days to think about it, but please consider joining the monk order as I have near your age. You may think you are not ready, but enclosed in this letter are a seal of approval from myself, a map to the temple, and something that helped me through these long six years. May Hope and Love guide you as it has me, throughout your life._

_Sincerely,_

_Vallena the Asura Fist_

An object dropped and hit the ground. Looking down, she saw a silver locket in the shape of a heart, attached to a silver chain. Engraved in it, was the words _'May this locket protect you forever.' _She opened it, and in it was a tiny sketch of Asura and a mysterious lord knight, a woman she had never seen. On the right side, however there was no one. Curiously, she thought if it was meant for her to put a picture of her in there.

But one thing was for certain, she would never look at those bells the same ever again.


	2. Chapter 2

"_**What do you want to be when you grow up, little girl?"**_

"_**An angel."**_

_That was the question the tutor at the novice academy always asked, and I was no exception. I had heard of the 'angels' that helped people become more powerful, if they reached a certain point in their training. I always liked helping people, but acolyte did not seem like enough._

_My mother still thinks I'm insane._

_But honestly, what is sanity, anyway? All it is, is a 'frame of mind' classified by the higher-ups in society. Now, as a low class citizen myself, I have absolutely no right to question the authority of the council._

_Just because I wasn't born with 'royal blood', or, in my words, 'blood mixed with the same blood to form a child', I was considered below society. Now that is totally unfair. Those snobs born in the higher class of society really like rubbing it in. They get higher grades and higher respect from the teachers at the academy just because they have money to bribe them with._

_So eventually I ended up as an acolyte. Not proud of myself, I'm too weak to even kill a familiar in this stupid, reeking, dark cave in Payon. Luckily, I have found a young swordsman to help me. Right now, while I am writing in my journal, he is sharpening his sword in the corner of the inn room we rented. Being the chivalrous boy he is, he's making me sleep on the floor._

_At the moment, I am only fifteen-_

She stopped writing for a moment, before scratching the line out and starting again below it.

_Tomorrow, I take the test to start my training to become a priest. That's the closest I can get to helping people._

_Sincerely,_

_Vallena Locheart_

Putting down her journal, Vallena took a moment to stare at the swordsman in the corner. She thought he was quite disgusting. He already had a hairy face at twenty, he had shaggy unruly brown hair, and he was rather pudgy. The only reason she respected him, and would follow his orders… is because he was a high class citizen.

Because of that, she had to do what he told her. _Exactly _what he told her. But, fortunately, she had a powerful will. If he told her to do something she would never do, she would leave. Who could stop her?

"Wench." He said, glaring at her, and standing up, dropping his sword. "Come here."

She sighed, before standing up and bowing to him. "Yes, sir?" She asked, standing up straight.

"I need you to find me better armor." He said, pacing slowly from the bed and to the window.

"I am here for your orders, sir." She said, biting her lip. She _hated_ him.

"Oh?" He said, pacing towards her. He stood in front of her, staring into her emerald eyes with his fat dull blue ones, then whipped his hand out and wrenched her platinum blonde hair to the side, moving his face inches from her own. "Then **take off your clothes**." He said, throwing her on the bed.

"What are you talking about!?" She cried, jumping off the bed, her feet scuffing the floor and shoving him lightly.

"How _dare_ you!" He roared, and backhanded her to the floor. "Have you no respect for a higher citizen!?" He yelled, as he was about to unsheathe his sword when…

CRUNCH

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Immediately after her mace had made contact with his skull, Vallena knew she was in trouble. But she didn't care. He was an asshole, and everyone he passed knew it. She knew that if she ever saw him again, he would send assassins after her. He probably already had, if he was even conscious.

Two hours had passed already, and, as she sat on the public wagon that many adventurers pay to ride on, she was brooding the consequences. She was already half way to Prontera, and the dark skies were rumbling with unseen thunder.

"Hey miss?" Came a voice from just outside the wagon.

Whipping her head around, she stared at the young female knight who was strolling behind her on her oversized bird.

"Yes, ma'am?" She asked, smiling at her.

"Why do you look so distressed?" The knight asked, coming a little closer and frowning. "You look frightened, is something the matter?" She asked, cocking her head.

"No, it's nothing. But thank you for your concern." She said, and boosted the knight's agility so she could get to Prontera faster.

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"What do you mean I can't become a Priest?!" She cried, closing her eyes tightly. She could already feel the surge of tears. She couldn't believe her luck. As she studied the back of her eyelids rather intently, she let her head droop to, if her eyes were open, stare at the priest's feet.

"You have striked a noble! That is unforgivable in this society! You will _never_ succeed in life!" The old man behind the pedestal shouted, spittle flying into the small crowd of people waiting to apply for priest training. "Now, get out of this church this instant!"

"Fine!" She screamed, and stormed past the crowd of people. Murmurs of shock, confusion, rage, and delight about the incident spread fast. By the time she made it outside the church, _everyone _was talking about it.

"Did you hear? Some psycho bitch hit a noble!" A knight said to her, laughing his head off with his idiotic pals. Grinding her teeth, she stormed out of the East Gate of Prontera, heading directly east. She needed to be alone.

After a half an hour, she reached the sea shore. Taking off her shoes, robes, and stocking, sitting in her tight fitting cotton shirt and shorts, she dipped her feet into the cool ocean and finally let herself cry. She cried as hard as she could, for her whole miserable life. She had never been accepted.

That's when she saw it. A giant fin raising through the ocean, before disappearing into it's unknown depths. The sea. The last unexplored place on the planet. If she were to drown herself…no one would ever find her.

The idea was very appealing, she was about to jump in when she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She looked over her shoulder and saw a tanned hand holding out a handkerchief for her.

"Here, I think you need it more than I do." The knight from last night said, smiling at her as she took her greaves and armor off. "So, why are you crying?" She asked, looking over to her.

Vallena stared in awe at the woman. She was probably around eighteen, and she had white hair and tanned skin. She also had brown eyes that made Vanessa feel better just at a glance.

"I… they won't let me be a priest." She said, looking away in shame.

"Then become a monk." The woman said, hugging her lightly from behind, and sitting directly behind her so her legs were either side of Vallena's. She felt the woman's large breasts press into her back, only two thin layers of cotton separating them, which made her blush furiously.

"A…monk?" She asked, trying to distract herself from her obvious… situation.

"Yes, a hidden order of holy people not as religious as the church, who teach young disciples how to protect and to fight, as well as the principles of how, when, and why to use it." She said, hugging Vallena to herself. What could she say? The girl needed comfort, and she was rather cute.

"Oh… I guess I could." She said, leaning back slightly to feel more. She couldn't understand why, but she felt so different around the knight. Maybe because she was the first kind person she had ever met.

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**That was chapter two. What do you think? Chapter three will be up soon. Oh, and one more thing, it's not X rated. No graphic scenes, but things do happen. I just won't write if for you. ;D**


	3. Chapter 3

'Are we there yet?' Was all that rang in Vallena's mind. She was dying to ask the dreaded question travelers ripped their hair out when hearing it for the thousandth time, and she really, really didn't want to do that to anyone.

"We're almost there, don't worry." Mia smiled, patting her gently on the back. Mia was the knight, she told me her name while they started heading out towards the Monk's sanctuary.

"Are you psychic or something?" Vallena asked, frowning and quickening her pace to match that of the older woman's legs. She had let her peco peco rest at the inn.

"You could say that," She smiled, winking at me playfully, "my mother was a sage." She said, showing her a unique rune necklace. It was a round stone, with runes that looked like lines and weird squiggly shapes. Sometimes, it glowed lightly from the lines, but usually it didn't do anything.

"Oh, I see where you got that necklace from." She said, smiling up at her and tightening her hand around the mace. Mandragora were frequent around this area, and they always hit her from afar before she could whack it on the mandibles.

For the most part, she let Mia deal with them. Mia carried a claymore, and also carried a lightweight halberd on her back to hurl at enemies. She was very quick with the spear, but she seemed to go even faster carrying a sword.

Trudging through the heavy dirt, her feet aching through her soft cotton shoes, Vallena felt a snag on the end of her dress. She stopped, looking peculiarly at the ground to see what had caught her. As she looked at her feet, whispy green vein-like vines wrapped around her leg. She stared at them as they neatly and utterly wrapped around her calf, slowly squeezing until it felt painful. Then, just as it tugged her off her feet, she let out a high pitched and blood curdling scream that made Mia whip her head around.

As she saw Vallena's current predicament, Mia turned fully around with lightning speed, and had the limb severed and halberd quivering out of the Mandragora's 'temple', or weak spot, before she could blink. Amazing how powerful she was, the angel must be tired silly dealing with powering her up.

"Are you alright?" Mia asked for the hundredth time, grabbing her thin wrist and hauling her up like a piece of paper. She smiled at Vallena, and quickly sheathed her sword and grabbed the halberd from the Mandragora, the spear letting loose with a crunch.

"I'm fine, thank you." Vallena said, smiling at her. 'She really is amazing,' she thought, grinning to herself, 'she's so nice…'

"We're here." She said, indicating the old ruins with a wave of her hand. Her first thought was this was a mistake, that this could not have been the monastery, but, she saw one of the tutors that were involved in a random quest to find him, or two others. Waving to them, he called,

"Are you here to start your monk training?"

"Yes sir, she wants to try and become one of the order." Mia said as we came up to him, and he moved aside and let them pass by.

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"Keep trying, Vallena!" Came the voice of her tutor, Arrk. He was at least twenty five, and he was quite experienced despite his young age.

"I can't!" She cried, on her hands and knees, sweat gently trickling down her body.

For the last four hours, since five in the morning, she had been rigorously training on an old, dead tree outside the sanctuary. Apparently, they had no 'novice' tutors left. She doubted that was the case, that this was the training all monks receive to harden their hands.

"If you were born to do it, you will." He said, smiling at her. He patted her shoulder gently, then lifted her up.

Mia had left the day before, saying she had some guild matters to attend to, and headed off to Geffen, where their castle was located.

"Alright, if you can do it, so can I." She said, frowning at him and placing her hands on her hips.

Sighing, he picked out a fresh tree, and put his hand to it, and whacked it like you would a five year old. But…it completely shred in half.

"See? It's possible. Just put all your energy into your hand." He said, explaining how to concentrate it.

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"Very good, Vallena!" Arrk said, grinning at her and glancing lightly at all the broken elunium blocks around them.

In roughly two years, she had advanced from rotting wood, to normal wood, to phracon, to emverteracon, oridecon, and now elunium, a feat that took at least eight years.

"Hmm…" The head monk said, eyeing her loosely, before nodding approvingly. "Very good, Vallena, I hereby graduate you." He said, smiling at her.

Bowing low, Vallena quickly left the small room, the excitement nearly causing her to pass out, as Arrk slowly followed her to the armory. When they reached the door, Arrk unlocked it for her and selected two female monk uniforms, and two knuckle dusters to wear.

"Congratulations, Vallena. Here, wash in the lake, then put these on and meet with Mia." He said, smiling at her with pride.

"Yes, sensei." She said, bowing to him and jogging towards the lake behind the sanctuary. Life had been good for her now, she and Mia were definitely close, and Arrk was a great friend as well. Finally reaching the lake, she quickly stripped, cast Ruwach just to be safe, and started swimming, enjoying the feel of the cool water. She had developed into quite the woman, and she was happy about that, too.

Suddenly, a warning went off in her head. Immediately, she sank into the water more so only her head was above it, then scanned the bank for any intruders. Suddenly, she spotted a movement. Gazing closer, she saw it was quite a large creature with yellow feathers and a big beak. Narrowing an eye in confusion, she felt something tug her leg before she was pulled down, into the murky depths of the lake.

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**Oh no! What's happening? A few of you Ragnarok Online die-hard gamers should know already. And think, this lake is at least 100 feet deep, so something either has to have a LONG tentacle, is really strong to pull her down, or…find out next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

Screaming into the water, the bubbles of air floating to the surface of the murky lake behind the sanctuary, Vallena looked down to see….

"A hand?" She mouthed, staring in disbelief as she saw the face of none other than Mia grinning at her. In total shock, Vallena forgot about her screaming lungs and just stared at Mia, which her reaction was to cock her eyebrow, and drag the shocked girl up to the surface.

Bursting through the green surface of the lake, Mia grinned at her. Seizing the girl's wrist, she dragged her towards her and hugged her.

"Mia, I have nothing on…" She squirmed, trying to pull away.

"I know." She grinned, "It's just like all those other nights." She said, grinning at her, before leaning forward and planted her lips upon the monk girl's.

Vallena felt comforted, and let the kiss grow deeper. As Mia's hand reached deeper into the water, she nearly jumped out of the water.

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"Wow…" She panted, looking over at Mia, "that was great." She said, staring at her from the shore of the lake.

"Wasn't it?" She said, grinning at her and scratching her neck. "Well, with all the practice we get, what else would it be?"

Laughing out loud, the two quickly dried and dressed, before heading out to Prontera, to see what the rest of the new day had to offer.

"So, what's the plan?" Asked Vallena, strolling down the street, and browsing at the shop stalls.

"I was thinking something like heading over to the main guild area to sign up for one." She said, smiling at her.

"Really? You finally want to join a guild? Well, alright, but don't get impatient and pick a random o-" She was interrupted, however, when she was dragged over to a ring of people, who were all standing around a woman.

She had long blue hair, slightly wavy, and the skimpiest outfit she had ever seen, next to a dancer's. But of course, the overly huge hammer she was about to swing down on some poor knight's sword gave her away. She was a blacksmith.

BOOM

The metal was completely crushed together by the force of the impact. Pouting, the blacksmith apologized to the sobbing knight, and walked off to a few other people who were chatting away idly.

"This looks interesting." Mia said, as she stepped over the shattered remains of the sword, barely missing the knight's face.

Reaching the group, they saw that there was only two males. One was an older crusader, an old cross shaped scar from forehead to chin and cheekbone to cheekbone was painfully obvious. His faded red hair still stuck in spikes.

Next was a huntress, with flame red hair, neatly separated into two ponytails, which were laying across her shoulders, bound by brass rings. Her eyes were a pale blue, and looked as a child's, so full of mischief and innocence.

Next was an assassin, whom unlike his brethren, he was very cheery and open. He had long white hair that reached his shoulders. The huntress pulled down the bandana covering his left eye, and there was a wicked scar tracing through his left eye.

And lastly there was a dancer, who was busy flirting with young boys, probably around twelve, who were ogling her body, tanned from the rich sun of Comodo, and she had tan brown hair that was let down her back, and over her shoulders.

"Hello, I was just wondering, are you a guild?" Mia said, smiling at them, while pulling Vallena along as well, seemingly reluctant to let her go.

"Why yes, we are the Brass Angels." The crusader said, smiling at them, "Are you interested in joining?" He asked, patting the huntress' head, and walking up to them.

"Yes, we are looking for a guild. We've grown very much in the last while." Mia said, shaking the man's hand. "How can we join?"

"You just have to accept this invitation, and you're in." He said, handing them two invitations, which they hastily checked the 'yes' box. "Great, now follow us to the guildhouse." He said, grabbing the reigns to a weathered peco and hopping on. "Elvira, stop playing with Orin." He said, smiling at them, before starting off at a slow pace. The others followed, and the two got the hint and walked quick to catch up to them.


End file.
